The training and continuing education of their own employees has a long tradition in German family companies. Today, family businesses provide more than 60 percent of all jobs in Germany, 80 percent of training positions (Langenscheidt & May 2020, p. 12) and more than 70 percent of family businesses are active in the area of continuing education (Stiftung Familienunternehmen, 2022b). The interest in training and continuing education will not weaken in the future, but rather continue to strengthen: For 95 percent of next-generation family entrepreneurs (NextGens), employee training and development is a top priority (PwC, 2020). 

Due to the great importance of family businesses for Germany as a business location, we will focus below on this particular form of enterprise. To distinguish between family businesses and non-family businesses, we use the definition of the European Commission (European Commission, 2009). Due to their economic importance, family businesses shape the image of the German economy abroad. By way of illustration, the five largest German family businesses are (1) Volkswagen AG, (2) Robert Bosch GmbH, (3) Schwarz Gruppe (Lidl, Kaufland), (4) Fresenius Gruppe and (5) Continental AG (Die Deutsche Wirtschaft, 2022).

The involvement of German companies abroad has already been the subject of several studies in order to capture the phenomenon of the transfer of vocational training at the meso level in the corporate context. For example, studies are available from the United States (Gessler, 2017), South Africa (Peters, 2019), and China, Mexico, and India (Pilz & Wiemann, 2021). The generally existing training engagement of German companies abroad is furthermore of interest, because although the engagement is local, it can have the potential of a systemic effect at regional and national level (Wiemann & Fuchs, 2018). 

It is striking that there are no studies on the training activities of German companies in Central and Eastern Europe, even though these countries are of great economic importance for Germany (DeStatis, 2022): Poland, for example, follows directly behind the USA in terms of imports with rank 4 and exports to the Czech Republic (rank 11) are higher than exports to, for example, Korea (rank 18), Japan (rank 20), Mexico (rank 22), India (rank 23) and South Africa (rank 31).

Our research questions are: To what extent are German family companies already involved in in-company training at their branches in Central and Eastern Europe? What obstacles do these companies face on the ground and what prospects do they see for their further involvement in training?

Our study shows what contribution major German family businesses are already making to dual training and continuing vocational training in selected countries in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and what opportunities as well as obstacles and resulting need for action exist to improve training and continuing vocational training locally. The study focuses on countries that are of great importance to the German export industry: Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Serbia. A particular focus is on industrial-technical training occupations.

(1) Document analysis: In seven country studies (Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Serbia), the systemic framework conditions as presented in the database "VET in Europe" (CEDEFOP) were first analyzed. (2) Survey: In a second step, major German family businesses were surveyed online (N=193) about the actual status and their perspectives. (3) Case Studies: The concrete training practice on site was examined in more detail in four case studies. For this pur-pose, eight guided interviews were conducted with school and company representatives.

In Germany, German family businesses benefit from the dual training system, which enables companies to align training with operational needs and to qualify skilled workers who fit the company both professionally and socially. Skilled workers form the backbone of the German economy. In Central and Eastern Europe, the situation is even more explosive: On the one hand, there is also a massive shortage of skilled workers. On the other hand, the training of skilled workers does not solve the shortage, but rather exacerbates the problem: Vocational training in Central and Eastern Europe is generally the responsibility of the schools and is detached from the needs of the companies. The lack of quality and attractiveness, in turn, result in high-achieving stu-dents migrating to general education and then to higher education, which further exacerbates the shortage of skilled workers. This trend is being countered by political reforms: For example, dual apprenticeship options were enshrined in law in six of the seven focused countries: Hungary (2011), Bulgaria (2015), Slovakia (2015), Poland (2016), Romania (2016) and Serbia (2017). These positive develop-ments are supported by a European policy that has been promoting the apprenticeship concept for a decade, by the existing political will for reform on the ground (Tūtlys et al., 2022) and by the commitment of the companies providing training, among which the German family busi-nesses occupy a particularly prominent position: 73.6 percent of the family businesses surveyed are currently already providing training in Central and Eastern Europe. Major German family businesses are therefore far more committed to training in Central and Eastern Europe than the national average (around 30 to 40 percent). Another positive aspect is that 74.1 percent of fami-ly businesses are promoting local training because they want to assume social responsibility.

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